Title
Microbial biogeography of drinking water: Patterns in phylogenetic diversity across space and time
Author
Roeselers, G.
Coolen, J.
van der Wielen, P.W.
Jaspers, M.C.
Atsma, A.
de Graaf, B.
Schuren, F.
Publication year
2015
Abstract
In this study, we collected water from different locations in 32 drinking water distribution networks in the Netherlands and analysed the spatial and temporal variation in microbial community composition by high-throughput sequencing of 16S rRNA gene amplicons. We observed that microbial community compositions of raw source and processed water were very different for each distribution network sampled. In each network, major differences in community compositions were observed between raw and processed water, although community structures of processed water did not differ substantially from end-point tap water. End-point water samples within the same distribution network revealed very similar community structures. Network-specific communities were shown to be surprisingly stable in time. Biofilm communities sampled from domestic water metres varied distinctly between households and showed no resemblance to planktonic communities within the same distribution networks. Our findings demonstrate that high-throughput sequencing provides a powerful and sensitive tool to probe microbial community composition in drinking water distribution systems. Furthermore, this approach can be used to quantitatively compare the microbial communities to match end-point water samples to specific distribution networks. Insight in the ecology of drinking water distribution systems will facilitate the development of effective control strategies that will ensure safe and high-quality drinking water.
Subject
Life
MSB - Microbiology and Systems Biology
ELSS - Earth, Life and Social Sciences
Biomedical Innovation
Biology
Healthy Living
Base Sequence
Biofilms
Growth & development
DNA, Bacterial/genetics
Drinking Water
Chemistry
Microbiology
High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing
Microbial Consortia
Genetics
Netherlands
Phylogeny
RNA
Ribosomal 16S
Sequence Analysis
DNA
Water Purification
Water Quality
To reference this document use:
http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:a2fb8502-e69d-489f-86dd-60d06a25eb2f
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1111/1462-2920.12739
TNO identifier
783119
Source
Environmental Microbiology, 17 (7), 2505-2514
Document type
article